New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-10-04
ST4RTLING INDICTMENT.


of Mary land is the most scathing indictment OF
a political party from lis own members that VIC
remember ever to have read 1t discioscs a
condition Of affairs in the City Of Baltimore
striking at the very foundations Of free govern
ment. and making further submission intoleIablt
to men who arc not willing to be the political
slaves of murderers and thieves. We venture
to say that no revelation OF Ring rule in this
country has ever made known such picture
Of city SO completely at the mercy OF men
who empty the treasury at the time that they
stuff the balIot-boxcs, who are at the same
time law makers and aw-brca<crs Of the bold
est and most vulgar description The wonder
is not that number Of prominent members
Of the party should now take the stand that
the time has come to throw the government
into the hands of the opposition. but that they
should have borne these outrages so long.
The dignifcd tone Of the paper shows that
these men are in earnest. and arc not acting
from ordinary motives. They attack tho
party "nachine' in these terms
This organization has banded together tho criminal
da.-e- Of tho city for election and other purposes.
cert ain local leaders I'm ward-mcn OF hc worst
character frequently with long criminal records
given the distribution of certain portions OF thS
ctys patronage be used I'm keeping together bands
N roughs ballot thieves Thee ward Leaders, In
return for the patronage which IS gwen them supply
tho men for Carrying elections ny fraud. and IN soe
o, thu, U,ver wards keep together the thugs and cut
thrDats employed TO oyerawo those who oppose tho
plans of the managers In many cases inohcnsiNc
men are assaulted by tor agents, and In more than
QUO Instance they have stopped Deliberate
der Sersn have bssn appointed 70 o0Lce under
The Csiy. Siae and National Governments rusm
f<,r ~. L.gr< g..le auf
these appointments have been made by oversig h
but spite Of all protest. In most they were
resppointmonts
Here is record that is not surpassed, If il
is eqliallcd by that Of the Tweed Ring:
Time would fail to tell all the outrages that have
been committed openly, publicly and systematically
by this association 1t has appointed to public Office
thieves, burglars, express robbers murdcrers and men
stained with every crime. IL has burned the baots
when the custody Of the clerk OF the court and the
perpetrators Of tho act have publicly boasted VI ;
indeed. overy one connected with that act has been
rewarded from tho public treasury. IL has secured
plaoes In the Government employ for the two most
notorious election thieves In tho city 1t has garrt
soned a ward with ruians and kept them In the city 5
pay. " troenfyHrce State and FtderaI employees Ia
that rard haze found nirelsen ,rhose
appear The criminal records NJ The city. Worse
than ALL the attorney OF the organization, 10 whom II
has committed the dsfting Of election laws, has
dcfled statute books with laws fitted only ~ DO
instruments Of fraud For twelve years Its platforms
have promised reform In the election law, promise
repeated again and again, and each time this gentleman
has been employed to evade tho fulAlment Of tho
pledge. The late convention has actually repeated
the stale promise and made the same man chairman
Of its committee to prepare the law.
So much for the men the German Ring puts
in Office. This concerns their operations upon
the registry lists-about which our dispatches
yesterday gave some interesting details:
The Investigations Of tho league have disclosed
frauds In the registration amounting to thousand OF
names. In Some cases tho names have been taken
bodily from the directories Of other cities. In
the Of whole class at the Medical
College have been found registered In ward and
soiidly voted, though none Of them for years had
been living in tho city. At this very time tho
registers engaged in concerted attempt to hinder
tho agents of tho league in tho simple effort to watch
their proceedings, and this although the law requires
that their slttings shall DO public. Indeed, OF
tho registers has stated In open court that they do
this under advice Of counsel, that counsel being nc
tho time secretary Of the Democratic state Gen.
tral Committee. Indeed. the chairman Of the Demo
cratic City Executive Committee actually makes
newspaper attach upon the agent OF the Reform
League when he attempts Investigation Of the three
most notorious wards OF tho city. Only tho action OF
the courts has secured to the agents OF the league the
simple right to watch the registration; that has
not made them safe against arrest, or Insult and
malicious ndlgnlty after arrest.
But the Regular Democrats are promising
better election laws. As to this the address
says:
Its convention promises with grave soIemnlty to
gtve us election reform, when the very men who
render the necessity for reform most urgent sat In
that convention and controlled its action Even on
the same day that tho promise for reform Ia made,
that convention puts upon Its State Committee two VI
the most notorious ballot thieves In the city II
uromlses a new election law, and makes chairman OF
the committee to franc II the very gentleman who
contrived the present 1t promises us the Tuden
election law when point Of fact the party could,
~ its organlzation not fagrantiy corrupts give
us In a moment all the beneficial features OF the
ridden law without any legislation whatever.
There e nothing to prevent. Instead Of this the
Reform League watchers at the registration, who get
into the rooms a oil only with tho ad Of the courts are
assaulted and arrested Tho request fof eopss Oh inc